Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan Read Online Free PDF Page A

this process might lead.
    â€œI wouldn’t jump to conclusions,” said Mark, seeing his wife’s distress. “It may simply be a passing phase. And it hasn’t kept her from doing what she’s always done. That was a nice sweater she just knitted for Stephanie, for example, and she’s still one hell of a good cook.”
    â€œThere was the venison stew,” Carla reminded him.
    â€œBut it was tasty, whatever it was,” said Mark. “She hasn’t lost her touch. Give it time. See how she is in a few weeks.”
    They all got in the car, but before backing out of the driveway, Mark paused and turned to Carla. “By the way,” he asked, “what’s an ostler?”

Chapter Six
    T he caterer WAS LOCATED IN WHAT LOOKED LIKE AN ABANDONED warehouse in the farthest reaches of northeast Philadelphia. They were greeted by one of the owners, a middle-aged man named Moishe, who bounded toward them wearing a yarmulke on top of a toupee—something that struck Mark as particularly redundant.
    The inside of the building was cluttered with aluminum pans, serving bowls, and cardboard boxes, but an area had been cleared in one corner where a small table had been carefully set with three place settings. There was a magenta cloth on the table, matching magenta napkins, and plates with magenta trim, as well as glasses and cutlery. This apparently was where the Goodmans were to sample the bat mitzvah meal.
    â€œI set the table according to the color scheme that our bat mitzvah girls tend to favor,” said Moishe, motioning to the table and addressing Stephanie, “but of course we have the books for you to look through to choose what you like if this isn’t to your taste.” He gestured to a library of black leather volumes on shelves across the room.
    â€œThe young lady should sit here.” Moishe gestured to the center of the table. “And I’ll take her order for a beverage.” He bowed
his head in pleasing subservience to Stephanie. “Your choice of Diet Coke or iced tea.”
    â€œDiet Coke,” said Stephanie demurely.
    â€œAnd the folks should sit on either side,” motioned Moishe, more perfunctorily, failing to take their beverage order.
    â€œWe’re going to give you a sampling of some of our most popular items,” he explained. “But you also have a list here.” He handed them a calligraphied sheet that seemed to go on forever. “These are other options that you can choose from. Here you see the meat menu and here the dairy. Note that some are starred to indicate a cost over and above the standard package fee. Some, with the dagger, are seasonal, and some, which require additional time to prepare, are in italics”—his hand swept across the menu quickly, indicating a veritable jungle of symbols and typescript. “Generally,” he said, as he saw Mark and Carla looking confused, “the items we’ll be serving you tonight are the ones most people choose, and they fall within the standard package price.”
    He turned to Stephanie to give a personalized translation: “I’m simply showing what we have, because we want the bat mitzvah girl to be happy, and sometimes she wants to choose something out of the ordinary. But as I say, most choose from among the items you’ll get to sample today—and I’ll be frank with you about which ones are the all-out favorites with the teens.” He turned to Carla and Mark in an aside: “I’ll send on the hors d’oeuvres menu another time. The hors d’oeuvres tend to get a bit complicated, and I like to leave it to Mom and Dad to make those selections at a later date.” (Experience had shown that it was best not to overload the customer, especially with the child present, since messy scenes were likely to result.)
    â€œSo without further ado, let’s have Eduardo, our chef, bring out your first course.” Moishe